Langweili must make a choice.

That's right, you want the command of the fleet, you can give it to you. But I can't give it to you. As a result, when the war comes, you turn your face and leave, and it's impossible to reason about it.

Langwei thought for a moment and said, "Please tell me, what would happen if I didn't agree?"

Huang Chengyong said: "You know, our government and your government are discussing an agreement on the naval side. If it can be reached, then maybe at the beginning of next year, a large number of your naval personnel will come to our country to assist in the construction of our naval. So, we sincerely hope that you can stay. Of course, if you choose to leave, we will not force you. Your contract will expire at the end of next year. I hope you can continue to complete the work of the head teacher in more than a year. Of course, during this period, you are only responsible for teaching and training."

Huang Chengyong’s meaning is very clear. If Lang Weili’s choice is not, then you can just finish this contract and replace the person.

Although the negotiation between the Qing Empire and the British Empire on the naval issue has just begun, as the representative of the British Empire in the Qing Navy, Langweili still knows some of the inside story. The reason why Langweili hesitated was because of this. Since the British Empire might have in-depth cooperation with the Qing Kingdom, why should I give up this generous job?

"What if there was a war between China and Britain?"

Huang Chengyong smiled: "Mr. Langweili was too worried. Before Beizhi came, the emperor had said to Beizhi. He believed that in the next ten years or even longer, neither the Qing Empire nor the British Empire would be enemies at sea. Our fleet is used to guard against the Japanese and Russians, and it may even be Spain or the Netherlands, but it will never be Britain. Of course, if this worst case occurs, we will respect your choice and will never force you to fight against your motherland."

Lang Weili weighed the pros and cons, and finally nodded.

Huang Chengyong smiled and saluted Langweili, saying, "On behalf of the emperor of my country, you are welcome to join! Now, we can go out and announce the edict!"

When they came out of the front hall, the generals, deputy generals, generals and other officers of the North Sea Fleet had already arrived. Huang Cheng rushed to Langweili and made a gesture of invitation. Langwei thought about it and walked to the center of the hall and gave a half-kneel salute.

Huang Chengyong smiled and said, "The emperor ordered that the general of the North Sea Fleet Cha Langweili, who performed his duties conscientiously during his service. He hereby rewarded and appointed Langweili as the deputy commander and chief of staff of the North Sea Fleet, responsible for the teaching, training, assessment, etc. of the North Sea Fleet. Impress this!"

Lang Weili said: "Thank you, Your Majesty, Your Majesty! I, Lang Weili, here swear in the name of the Lord that during my service, I will be loyal to His Majesty the Emperor of the Qing Dynasty and are willing to fight to safeguard His Majesty's dignity and sacrifice my life at will!"

With Lang Weili's oath coming to the ground, he officially became the real No. 2 figure of the North Sea Fleet.

"Congratulations to General Lang!" Huang Chengyong first congratulated Lang Weili.

The rest of the people immediately reacted and congratulated Langweili one after another.

The words are divided into two ends.

In October of the 14th year of the Guangxu period, the Tangjin and Jingu Railway were completed. Li Hongzhang immediately requested to continue the construction of the Jintong Railway, but was criticized by court officials. Then Yihuan wrote a letter to support the construction of the railway: Because the coast was long, it was planned to build a railway to protect the troops. The people who discussed the matter did not investigate the background or wanted to help, or they believed in hearing, or compiled it out of thin air, and followed the chapters and listed them, and listened to the heavens. Now, the world's powers all over the world have each made armor and soldiers, and only their strength is to see them. If I have a railway, the troops will be transported quickly, food and wages, and coal machinery will not be

There are three or five refined troops in the hinterland of the first charity, which are no different from the ones along the coast. The long-term strategy of resisting insults is also a long-lasting good plan. As for the goods, sales of minerals, travel, labor, and mail delivery, and the profits are even more difficult to list. In other words, it is said that "it is the benefit of the ministers, not the benefit of the king; it is the benefit of foreign countries, not the benefit of China." Isn't it a reversal of right and wrong! This matter is related to the important affairs of the military and national affairs, and the ministers dare not restrain the masses and have ambition to shirke.

The railway must be built. As Yihuan said, this is an important matter related to the rise and fall of the country. It is absolutely impossible to give up just because a few fly buzzed a few times. However, Guangxu knew that the construction of roads was not just a few words in the court, or a few imperial edicts. In particular, the construction of railways would inevitably require the support of local governors. Without these people to promote local projects, follow up on projects, and calm down the countryside, the construction of railways would only be empty talk. So Guangxu took the opportunity of court discussion and sent an order to Hubei, Henan, Anhui, Jiangsu, Guangdong and other places to ask the governors of various places to provide feedback on the opinions on the construction of railways.

In the 15th year of Guangxu, Huang Pengnian, acting governor of Jiangsu, submitted a memorial on the establishment of railways: Fang Ying is based in Myanmar and France, and he is close to our barriers and his battlefield. However, he is located in a remote area and can still be seen. Russia alone envelops Middle-earth, especially from the three eastern provinces and Xinjiang. The Russian Siberian Railway from Petroburg to Puchaoside (Vladivostok), extends to Xinjiang, Mongolia, north of Heilongjiang, and east of Jilin, and is more than ten thousand miles long to force both sides. Looking for Goryeo on the left, right

The Danhui tribe is not small. Therefore, our railway plan is that the northeast should be from Shanhaiguan to Heilongjiang, and then to Ningguta, Jilin, and northwest should be from Shaanxi, Gansu to Xinjiang North Road Yili, and then to Kashgar. When the east-west railway is completed, the tax collection and troops will be collected and transferred, and it will be reached in ten days. There are a lot of wasteland outside the mouth, so the most convenient settlement is possible. Once there is a railway, the unemployed people in the mainland will come, and the fertility will be bribed every day, and the border will be filled every day.

At the same time, Taiwan Governor Liu Mingchuan also submitted a petition to set up a railway, and said: I hope that the emperor will be self-righteous and make clear statements, so that all the people in the world will understand the railway matter to ensure the stability of the internal and external resistance, and there is an urgent need for delay. It is not the benefit of a corner, it is the benefit of the world; it is not the benefit of a moment, it is the benefit of the whole world; it is not the benefit of one or two people, it is the benefit of tens of millions of people.

Then, Zhang Zhidong also reported that the Taixi Chuangxing Railway has been around for nearly a hundred years, which is actually one of the major reasons for its prosperity. Now China is eager to maintain peace and stability, so it has to adopt its own skills to help self-improvement. Zhang Zhidong also mentioned in the memorial that it established the Luhan Railway, which was planned to be completed in four sections in eight years, and planned to use 20 million taels of silver. ‘The railway takes Baoding, Zhengding, Handan, Zhangde, Huaiqing and other prefectures, and selects narrow beaches and strong banks in the upper reaches of the Yellow River, and builds bridges where the flow remains unchanged.’ Then, ‘Tour Huai and Wu in the east, and Xiang and Shu in the south, and controls the conflict between eight and nine provinces along the way.’

These voices of support were particularly important to Guangxu. As for the opposition from the Han, Yu and Kedao in the court, they could be ignored - they did not expect these people to work hard.

Moreover, Zhang Zhidong could actually think of building the "Jinghan Line", which was really a surprise for Guangxu.

This time, in addition to the entire military aircraft, there were also the Minister of Works, Minister of Revenue, Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, and Sheng Xuanhuai, Zheng Guanying, Zhou Fu, Yang Zonglian, Zhan Tianyou and others in charge of steel production and railway construction.

After circulating the memorials of Yihuan and the governors from various places to you, Guangxu said: "The construction of railways is a great army and a country. The court must do this. This meeting, one is to determine how many railways are urgently needed in China, and the other is to solve the money and steel needed."

The emperor has set the tone. Although some people still have psychologically opposed the construction of railways, their obvious opposition is ineffective. Then the next thing will be easier.

First of all, Xu Geng proposed from the perspective of military supplies that at least three routes in the north, west and south were built, which would extend the railway line from Tianjin to Shanhaiguan to Shengjing northward, and then it could be divided into three routes, one by Changchun to Heilongjiang, one by Jilin to Ningguta, and one by the other, turning south to Luda. The western route was through Taiyuan, Xi'an to Xinjiang. These two routes were basically Huang Pengnian's idea, but the Fengda line was added.

The southern line completely copied the Luhan Railway in Zhangzhidong. This line itself is the core artery of China. Even after dozens or hundreds of years, it is still a crucial railway trunk line. Therefore, the strategic significance of which is the natural heroes of the knowledgeable people in the court have similar views.

These routes are naturally supported by Yixin, Yihuan, Li Hongzhang and others, but this can only be considered a general plan. How to build them first depends on the financial resources of the court and the supply capacity of the steel.

"The iron plants that the imperial court can use now are our own Tangshan Iron Factory, and the iron plants of the British in Shanghai. The ore used in this iron factory is basically transported from overseas to Pingxiang, and the coal is used in Pingxiang. Because the cost is high, the steel refined is more expensive than that of Tangshan. However, the ore from overseas is of superior quality, and the British machines and technology are better than us, so the quality of steel is better. In addition, the Daye Iron Factory of the French also uses Pingxiang coal, and the ore uses the local ore from Daye. The quality and output of the steel are similar to that of the Tangshan Factory. The three factories can de-orbit steel every year. However, the Tangshan Factory will supply the armored steel from the shipyard afterwards, so the rail steel may not be able to support it."

Zheng Guanying was mainly responsible for steel production. He was talking about the current situation of the court. At present, the Qing Dynasty was catching up in the industry, but its foundation was too thin and there were serious lack of technical workers. Therefore, there was still a large gap in steel production, especially high-quality steel. Among them, it involved the core technology that Guangxu had opened to open, so it was naturally impossible to use outsiders. It could only rely on the Tangshan factory to accumulate slowly.

Guangxu calculated and said: "Rail steel can be purchased from factories invested by the British and French in Shanghai, Hubei, and the construction of railways cannot be achieved overnight. The output of steel is increasing year by year, so the steel of these two factories should be able to support the construction of the southern section of the Luhan Railway to the Yellow River. In addition, there are iron ore in Anyang, Henan and Handan, Zhili. It can be done by taking the approach of official, commercial joint stocks or direct commercial offices. Two more iron plants are built in these two places, and even coal mines are available nearby, so they can be used nearby."

Speaking of this, Guangxu thought for a while: "Didn't there be an agreement with the Americans before? Both railways and steel mills can be used to attract Americans to invest. However, Americans' shares cannot exceed 40%. It must be clear that whether it is road rights or mining rights, they belong to us. They are just investing, developing and operating and managing."

Yi Xin received the order.

Guangxu said again: "In addition, a railway can be built to connect Jinan and Weihai."

Weihai is the base of the North Sea Fleet, and the construction of this railway is of obvious military purpose. Yihuan and Li Hongzhang naturally shouted "The Emperor's Holy Ming".

Sheng Xuanhuai reported: "The exploration of Sichuan South Sichuan iron ore that the emperor assigned to the emperor has recently returned. It is indeed rich in iron ore in southern Sichuan. According to American experts, the ore is of great quality. However, the roads in southern Sichuan are dangerous and inconvenient, and mining and transportation costs are high. I think it is possible to find open places around Chongqing to build an iron plant to save the cost of ore transportation."

The coal and iron resources in southern Sichuan are abundant, which is known to every modern person, so Guangxu is not worried at all when he finds a large-scale deposit there. But as Sheng Xuanhuai said, there is also a problem of inconvenience in southern Sichuan, so it is necessary to build a steel plant nearby.

Weng Tonghe, Minister of Works, replied: "When you return to the emperor, these iron plants are currently only for use on the southern railway line. However, how should you operate the western and northern railway lines be operated? Please tell me."

This is indeed a problem.

Guangxu thought carefully and said, "The Western Line can first build the route from Taiyuan to Zhengding to Tianjin. Shanxi has abundant coal resources and the railway is the best choice to transport coal. In addition, the northern Line can be built to Shengjing first. Others, including Taiwan's railways, should be slowed down for the time being."

Building a railway is not only a constraint on insufficient steel production, but also a financial shortage is also one of the obstacles that restricts the construction of railways in the Qing Dynasty.

As Guangxu just said, the construction of railways was not achieved overnight. When the imperial court lacked existing resources, it was impossible to take into account the construction of multiple railway trunk lines at the same time. It could only be to find a few crucial sections and build them in sections, and then connect them to form trunk lines if financial resources and resources allow.

Although the steel production capacity is insufficient now, the Beishi Steelmaking Method and the Bright Furnace Steelmaking Method have been promoted. In time, steel production will definitely increase. The imperial court's projects in shipbuilding and railway construction will also attract foreign capital to further expand production. In addition to the output of foreign-funded factories, the steel production will inevitably increase exponentially year by year. I believe that in two or three years, China will have sufficient steel production to meet the domestic shipbuilding industry and railway needs.
Chapter completed!